Baseball history, one player at a time

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Trivia time

In honor of our last post about infielder John Kennedy, a bit of trivia. How many MLB players have shared a name (same first and last, no matter the spelling) with a U.S. President? Kennedy is obviously one, but there are others. Here’s the list. The names link to their baseball reference page, in case you want more information.

Bonus points for Mike Adams who pitched for seven teams from 2004-2015. I know what you’re thinking, there is no president named Mike Adams and you are correct. However, Adams’ actual first name is Jon, which means he has the same name as the second and sixth POTUS. There was also a Zack Taylor who played in the 1920’s and 1930’s. His given name, however, was James.

Also, the Dodgers have a James Carter in their minor league system, who will be the next name on the list, if he gets called up.

And no, Grover Cleveland Alexander does not count. Even though he was the first guy who came to my mind when I thought of the question.